Lady Gaga will perform in the Philippines, but not if some bigots can help it. Biblemode Youth Philippines has gone on Bible Mode, calling for the blasphemous concert to be canceled. Their protest leader, former Congressman Benny Abante, threatened to file a lawsuit if she sings “Judas,” a performance protesters consider obscene, and therefore, illegal.

Penal Censorship

Former Manila Mayor Jose Atienza agrees, saying that such obscenity is punishable by six months to six years in prison under the Revised Penal Code. According to Article 201 — which was also used against Mideo Cruz’s Jesus-Penis-Juxtaposition in Polyteismo — obscenity applies to immoral displays that

(1) glorify criminals or condone crimes;

(2) serve no other purpose but to satisfy the market for violence, lust or pornography;

(3) offend any race or religion;

(4) tend to abet traffic in and use of prohibited drugs; and

(5) are contrary to law, public order, morals, good customs, established policies, lawful orders, decrees and edicts.

Judas vs. Jesus

The music video of “Judas” depicts “Jesus and his disciples as a motorcycle gang and tells the story of Jesus’ betrayal, with Lady Gaga playing the role of Jesus’ girlfriend, who is torn between her loyalty to Jesus and her love for Judas.”

Out of the 5 criteria for obscenity, “Judas” is guilty — by my judgment — of just one: (3) offending any race or religion. (1) doesn’t count (unless the motorcycle gang Jesus belonged to was a criminal one). Nor does (2) because beyond the stunts and gimmicks, many people actually like her music. (4) is arguable but unlikely. And (5) refers to laws, public order, and other supposedly non-sectarian rules — not the doctrines and opinions of a single sect or religion.

Fans vs. Fanatics

Lady Gaga is no stranger to such controversy — South Koreans protested to prevent infecting the youth with “homosexuality and pornography,” and in Indonesia, the Islamic Defenders Front said “they were ready to die to stop the concert.”

But should the concert be canceled — like in Indonesia — or censored — like what could happen here — it’s not Lady Gaga who’ll be affected most — it’s the fans. The right to freedom of expression implies the right to freely access artistic expressions in their uncensored form. To defend their right to enjoy an artist they admire — and to protect the ideals of free speech in general — Lady Gaga’s fans should counter-protest, and I’m suggesting this is how they do it.

Gaga vs. Bible

They should file a case against Biblemode Youth Philippines for giving the youth access to the most obscene artistic expression ever made: the Bible. Compared to the Bible, a Lady Gaga concert looks like an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. No one will dispute this, at least not anyone who has read the Bible — cover to cover, not just homily material. The Bible is so obscene that other than criterion (4), it is guilty of violating criteria (1), (3), and (5) many times over, and of (2) as well — unless you consider “being terrified of God” as a valid purpose.

I know many of you won’t read the Bible — especially if you’re a Bible-thumping Christian like Manny Pacquiao — so I’ll list just one example for each criterion of obscenity (except the fourth) to prove that more than Lady Gaga, the Bible is deserving of censorship, if not banning.

(1) glorify criminals or condone crimes

The Bible has many graphic stories that depict and even condone slavery, murder, genocide, torture, infanticide, and other atrocities that any non-psychopathic person would consider criminal. Here’s one.

To gain Saul’s approval, not to mention his daughter, Michal, David and his men not only killed a hundred Philistines, they also performed postmortem circumcisions, offering the Philistine foreskins — the 100 they individually counted — as bride price.

(2) serve no other purpose but to satisfy the market for violence, lust or pornography

The wicked men didn’t agree, so the homeowner pushed the concubine out from the house into the wicked men. Gang rape ensues. The next morning the homeowner, finding the concubine dead, did the sensible thing and chopped up her body, limb from limb, into twelve parts before mailing them to all the areas of Israel.

Does the story have any other purpose “but to satisfy the market for violence, lust or pornography”? And even if this did teach some moral lesson (pray tell, what?), the violence is just too gratuitous for an allegory.

(3) offend any race or religion and (5) are contrary to law, public order, morals, good customs, established policies, lawful orders, decrees and edicts.

God hates the Midianites because they worship Baal of Peor. He told Moses to kill all Midianite leaders, or else, he’ll keep punishing them with a plague. So Moses ordered Israel’s judges to kill Israelites who converted to Baal worship.

One day, an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman into camp. Phinehas, not a judge, followed the couple into their tent. As they were having interracial interreligion sex, Phinehas thrust a sphere through both of their bodies. (Talk about double penetration.) For taking things into his own hands instead of letting the state (judges) enforce the law, God rewarded Phinehas and stopped His plague.

Child Pornography

Any one of these stories depicts something more immoral than any stunt Lady Gaga could pull, and this is but a small sample of similar stories scattered in both the Old and New Testament. What’s worse, the Bible does more than depict immorality — it condones and even justifies it.

Yet with all the pornography and gratuitous violence in the Bible, it’s probably the easiest book for anyone to access — children included. (It’s a good thing children generally think the Bible is boring. That old copy at home won’t be so dusty if the children knew there was enough sex and gore in it to make most video games dull in comparison.)

Some may argue that the stories aren’t so bad when read in context. But imagine what would happen if a fundamentalist studio were to show a movie depicting these scenes. Would it get a PG rating from the MTRCB? Would it be any different if there was narration that put the scenes into context? And what difference does putting it in book form make? Didn’t fundamentalist groups also call for the censorship of Harry Potter, Da Vinci Code, and the novels of Jose Rizal?

I’d be interested to see the outcome of such a case should Lady Gaga fans follow my suggestion. If they don’t, maybe it’s FF that should challenge the Bible’s immunity to censorship. In any case, somebody should do it. Think of the children.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions in this post do not necessarily represent the position of the Filipino Freethinkers.

Benny Abante is nuts. I've attended one of his masses (required assignment during highschool).

Their church is like a mix of INC, evangelical christianity, good ole fear mongering, and a touch of networking.

I mean, I may be biased since I hated assignments that required me spending time on the weekends (I didn't argue since I thought the effort wasn't worth it, was I wrong), but with all his theories against some types of music, literature, and some random stuff I can't remember, I think the guy has a bad case of fruitloops in the head.

Nice post, Red… I've read it in a website that actually listed all the obscenities, atrocities, moral contradictions, misogyny, and all the filth contained in the Bible. Stated there was the fact that the early church fathers used Biblical teachings to justify holy wars, the Crusades, and murder. Now I begin to wonder if Bro. Eli Soriano (Ang Dating Daan) is employing the very same method used by medieval clerics, and his fans are nothing but schizophrenics in need of 10mg Reality STAT.

Another distorted cause of the FFT I see. You call Christians bigots yet you, in a swath of double standard hypocrisy defend Gaga's bigotry and parodying of Christianity not to mention the soft-core innuendos. That what a free thinker is, a hypocritical, lust-filled bigot? You guys are not freethinkers, you're enslaved by your lust. As a commenter has said in the past, I think he put it aptly, it's not about bigotry or rights, it's about the lack of moral fortitude… moral cowardice.

You completely miss the point. Her music might be crap, but that is irrelevant. People has no right to prevent her concert from happening, more so if they invoke threats of hellfire and God-hates-your-music-whatnot.

The right to express cuts both ways dear. What is not a right is to display porno innuendo and Christian mockery in a public performance. I believe your Philippine penal code has some things about obscenities and offensive acts which is the legal way by which these protests are headed. Personally for me I just hope that those who paid a lot of money to watch that rubbish realize that it could gave been used to benefit your country's poor. As I said you Freethinkers are on the wrong side of the fence and for what, just because the protesters are Christians. What a loon you bunch are!

That "public performance" which you speak of is something that the viewers requested, something that they paid for. Lady Gaga and her posse have all the rights (and even obligation because people paid for it) to let the audience view their antics, however crass those may be.

Blasphemy is a human right. You do not have any right to silence anyone just because you find it distasteful, immoral or whatever.

Now, you wouldn't be too happy if Christian Satanists file a legal complaint against Christians for mocking Satan and his evil deeds, now would you?

I'm sure you have the definition of a proper Christian down to the last letter.

I'm not a fan of Gaga. I find some of her songs silly. But banning someone from performing just because she doesn't quite agree or expresses something different from the average (I refuse to use the word NORM as there are different norms in different countries) is just plain ridiculous.

And calling people names just because they don't agree with you is shallow and un christian.

Let the first one who has not sinned cast the first stone 🙂

I've read the bible growing up. If you've read it as well, you'll see a lot of ungodly practices done in the name of god (ah the irony!).http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-m-sweeney/lady-… – her songs are a reflection of her faith, her personal god, and while I don't quite agree with her, I respect that.

When Charles Darwin presented his theory of Natural Selection, it was considered heretical because it went against the teachings of creationism in the Bible. Nicholas Copernicus also theorized Heliocentrism, and his findings were branded heretical because it contradicted Biblical teachings of geocentrism. Take the RH Bill in our modern day&age, where fundamentalists of every size and color are trying to block its passage, simply becoz a bunch of dry, old men can't stand sex education, contraceptives, and other provisions contained in the bill. Is it our fault that they opted for celibacy as a way of life?

Fundamentalists like Godfrey_Buillon are irked whenever their dogma is being scrutinized or challenged. They cannot be reasoned with.

Very good point, Aisha. We should also not forget Galileo Galilei vs the ancient scriptures regarding the Earth being the center of it all and how the Catholic Church admitted that he was right all along.

It took the Vatican more than 300 years to apologize to the rest of the world for making assholes out of themselves, in what is now known as "The Galileo Affair". What a shame. Well, that's what usually happens when you let dogma overtake you.http://religionnerd.com/2011/06/17/religion-polit…

"Maybe by name. No true Christian can do what she does. Anyone can call themselves what they want. it's their actions that speak for what they really are. "

– Hey Christ worshiper, have you had the slightest notion that whatever crap you pull out of your ass, the people who follow this site are already condemned to burn in hell because of our blasphemy and misdirection? Are you seriously trying to convert some of the posters here? Aren't you satisfied that you know for yourself that you will be in heaven because of the life you live?

A lot of your kind are fucking hypocrites. Is it really difficult to understand that people are starting to realize what kind of bullshit Christianity is? People are starting to learn the difference between reality and stupidity, between scientific evidence and fairy tales.

News flash: Christianity is the biggest JOKE of all time. Oh, and another thing, I am pretty sure that all of the folks who wanted her to come are MOSTLY Christians and Catholics as well. So why don't you take your oh-i'm-so-christian-I-can-win-every-argument-by-using-the-holy-spirit and take it to the demented youth who wanted to see her in the first place?

And now you call your self a CHRISTian ? As far as
I remember your CHRIST said, let the person without sin cast the first stone. And now what exactly are you doing? Casting your bullshit over Gaga as if you're some sinless guy who had his everyday confession.

By your own definition Godfrey, you're not a "real" Christian yourself because of your pompous, prejudiced, charlatan ways.

Every god-fearing, bible-believing uncle, aunt, and cousin on my mom's side of the family, whom I love and cherish for being genuinely kind and generous folks, would be ashamed to be associated with a self-proclaimed "Chritian" like you.

//. I believe your Philippine penal code has some things about obscenities and offensive acts which is the legal way by which these protests are headed. //

And I believe that as a signatory to the United Nations, we also have an obligation to ensure that free speech is protected in RP, even when self-righteous louts like you try to play the blasphemy card.http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/GC3…

Word. I've read the Bible cover to cover at least twice before I turned twelve while simultaneously being shielded from the news (too much violence!) , porn (ADULTERIEEEEE!), intolerance – the whole list of all things ungodly. The irony is that the Bible is filled with all these things. (Hint: if you want to read about sex when you're eight with conservative parents, THAT book is very accessible and, what more, people will actually encourage you to read it! Disclaimer: A biology book would be a better choice if you actually want to be informed.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to blast me some Bad Romance out loud on my stereo.

Yeah so the bible is this and the bible says that so let's screw this country's youth by letting this hate-singer, porno purveyor, gay-promoting entertainer here… what asinine logic. perhaps your music has damaged your gray matter.

Mocking Christ, the Catholic church crosses on stage that's not hate against a faith? Doingsexually charged acts on stage given that there may be minors and young adults in the audience, that's okay? As I said there seems to be a missing compass somewhere.

Rapists dear boy? Were you ever raped by a priest that it's all you've been harking? I think you need bloody counseling besides given your logic, we should stop supporting the public school system, the Boy Scouts, College Football and your typical family… oh wait that seems to be society in general, because as the data goes, there are more child abusers in these institutions than in the Catholic church but of course given that this is your usual recourse, you probably just wanted to stir things out of topic since you cannot, once again, sustain a good defense of this hypocritical position. It's the same rubbish as the above article.

And here we have Godfrey attempting to sidestep step the real meat of the issue: That while every one of the institutions cited does have its share of sex abuse, only the Catholic Church had the audacity to systematically use Vatican law and international diplomacy to hide its offenders, mislead authorities, and silence the victims.

//you probably just wanted to stir things out of topic since you cannot, once again, sustain a good defense of this hypocritical position. It's the same rubbish as the above article. //

And you sir, could not mount a justifiable defense for your organization's wrongdoings by shifting the goalposts.

You are fucking despicable – I do hope your daughter matures into somebody better than you.

//Yeah so the bible is this and the bible says that so let's screw this country's youth by letting this hate-singer, porno purveyor, gay-promoting entertainer here… what asinine logic.//

Honey, I don't think a single, itty-bitty concert is suddenly going to undo all of the anti-woman, anti-gay, and self-loathing mindset that years of Sunday Schools and church indoctrination impose on our kids.

//Yeah so the bible is this and the bible says that so let's screw this country's youth by letting this hate-singer, porno purveyor, gay-promoting entertainer here… what asinine logic.//

The words of a hate-monger:

“I want the deepest, darkest, sickest parts of you that you are afraid to share with anyone because I love you that much."

"Every bit of me is devoted to love and art. And I aspire to try to be a teacher to my young fans who feel just like I felt when I was younger. I just felt like a freak. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm trying to liberate them, I want to free them of their fears and make them feel that they can make their own space in the world."

"I hope that what you take away from my album is not just the music – which I did want to be fun, and I did want it to be about individuality, but please also take away from it that there's no dream that's too big."

Actually the people against the concert are just cautious of what they firmly believe for it is being shaken by somebody outside this country. Sustaining lies needs a lot of effort. Mass delusion is accomplished by making it look like a crisis that matters to everyone else by feeding the media who also gets its nutrition from such hysteria. They believe that what they think is good for them applies to their neighbor as well. So much for what they hold is a waste of existence.